Christmas programs

Let me start off by saying writing a blog is the last thing I should be doing right now! I have about a million things on my to do list..we are leaving tomorrow for two weeks and my house is a disaster! Oh well...priorities right? Last night we had all the kids' Christmas concerts. Ivy had a little program with her preschool at 5:30 and Max and Mya's program was at 7. Basically we let Ivy sing her song and then pulled her off the stage and left in order to get a parking spot and a good seat at the other performance! It was a great night...when we got home Chris and I looked at each other and both said "phew" at the same time!



Ivy was not interested in sitting in the pew at church with her class before her turn to go on stage. I was a little worried that she wouldn't go on stage, but when it was time she went right up there with her class! There were lots of people there, but thankfully it didn't seem to phase her. She didn't really sing her song (she must have been worn out from belting it out singing it to me for the last two weeks! She was looking all around and not really at the audience, but I count it as a win because I was sure she wouldn't even go up! She is 3rd from the end on the left in a cream sweater:)



Max and Mya's school performance was amazing. This little school put on quite the show last night. Their junior choir sang a few songs and then each grade also had a performance. Max sang his solo again and did even better than last time. He knew what to do with the microphone this time and didn't miss a note. We were pretty proud parents. Mya, being one of the shorter kids, was up front the whole time and was so into the music! She was swaying/dancing to the beat with a huge smile on her face the entire time. A conductor's dream:) I have to say there are some advantages to being short and her being in the front row was definitely one of them! Ivy did pretty well during the performance and we only had to take her out for the last two songs of the evening.

Mya is in the front row center wearing the same outfit as Ivy. The bottom picture you can see Max up in the front left on the microphone.


Today they have pajama day and Christmas parties so they were pretty excited to go to school. When I was in Mya's classroom this morning they had already done announcements and sang O'Canada and Mya still hadn't taken her chair down from her desk or put her shoes on. She was just so excited she couldn't concentrate! Poor teacher:) After morning reading they invited parents to the library for coffee and gingerbread cookies. What a difference 4 months makes...we did the same thing on the first day of school too. At that time I left one crying kid, one super sad/nervous kid and Chris and I walked into the library not knowing a soul and both wondering what the heck we did to our kids. Today I had more than one table of friends there, Max and Mya were begging to leave for school early and Ivy was running around the library like she owned the place.

Merry Christmas to all of you! I sincerely hope you have a wonderful time with all of the people you love. I know we will be doing the same:)

Turkey Trot

Well, the 14th annual turkey trot is in the books and I'm super late on the blog update! This year will definitely be marked with an asterisk! This is the first year that none of us have been together. We've been separated in the past, but at least two have always been together. Besides being apart, we also had very different running conditions! Tara ran on a beautiful, sunny 72 degree day in Okinawa. Brian and Amanda ran on a very cold, snowy, icy (they had to walk the turns icy)track in Decorah and we ran on our treadmill in the basement! It was -30 celcius the day that we ran which converts to -22F. We are die hards, but not that die hard! Of course the year we don't really count the scores is the year I get a PR! Oh well, more motivation to stay running and get my time down even more for next year!

Tony took the honors again and I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with any conditions:) He ran it in 5:26. Chris came in 2nd, and then Tara at 3rd, me at 4th, Amanda at 5th, Max came in 6th with a 9:36, Brian came in 7th and Mya came in 8th place with a time of 13:20. Livi and Grace weren't too thrilled about running in the snow without their cousins so they decided to save up until next year:) Enjoy some pictures!

(the picture below is for Uncle Tony...Max wanted to show him his muscles:)

Two weeks in review

Time is getting away from me around here! We've been here 6 months. For awhile the time was going slowly, but now I'm actually getting a little panicked about making sure we get to everything we want to while we are here! I struggle with feeling "behind" in everything I do. My goal for 2015 is to just be present in the moment and know that even if my kids aren't in piano lessons and Ivy can't identify every letter of the alphabet, my summer clothes are still in my closet, the pictures in our bedroom are still not hung, etc. everything will be okay! Phew! So with that being said...this is what we've been up to the last couple of weeks!

Max and Mya had a performance with their junior choir at school at the Festival of Trees in downtown Edmonton. It was such a great event all around. We loved walking around looking at the trees, participating in the kids activities and of course watching M&M perform. Max had a solo for one of the songs that they did and he did really well. (you can watch it here)He got that from Chris...I wouldn't want any part of that! Afterwards we saw Santa and celebrated an awesome performance with lunch at one of our favorite places, Earls.



On Wednesday the 3rd I took off for a little girls weekend! I had been anticipating this for a long time. Two things came up with two different groups of friends and they both fell on the same weekend so I knew it was meant to be! The trip was good for all of us. I needed a little break and Chris was excited to to spend some extra time with the kids and learn the ropes for getting them to where they need to be, making lunches, packing backpacks, etc. (He did awesome btw) I flew into Minneapolis early Wednesday evening and had a very enjoyable 2.5 hour ride home with my dad! Most of the time when I call home I talk to my mom so it was nice to have some good conversation with my dad and catch him up on everything over the past couple of months. We stopped for Culvers (I miss that place!) and then got to see my aunt and uncle's new house just north of Decorah. We pulled into my parents house at 9:30 and had a glass of wine and my mom waiting for me! We caught up a bit and then I went through all of the packages I had mailed to myself there:) It felt like Christmas.

Thursday I went down to Dubuque and did about as much as one person could do over the next 24 hours! I saw some great friends, got a tour of the addition on the school M&M went to last year, spent some time with some of my favorite kiddos, went to an awesome party with my bunco crew, had a beer at the dog house, went to a playdate, drank lots of coffee, had lunch at Panera (another place I miss!) visited some old neighbors, drove by my old house, and probably more that I'm forgetting! It was a great 24 hours and I miss those people so much!


Me and my fairy goddaughter Clara:)


Friday I drove to Decorah and all of my roommates from college came for the weekend! It started with us possibly going to Christmas at Luther, but we ended up not going to the performance and instead just enjoying all of the festivities of the weekend and catching up! We saw the Decorah Holiday Parade on Friday night, hopped around to all of our favorite establishments, enjoyed some Mabes pizza, and actually turned in earlier than most other nights we all get together! (1:30am) Saturday we did some shopping, some eating, I got to see my cousin Kelsey play basketball and had our little gift exchange among my friends. It was so great to all be together and we picked up right where we left off!


taking pictures with a timer is so much fun:)


Sunday Rachel and Megan got up bright and early with me and they dropped me off at the airport in MSP at 9:45 for my 11:30 flight. Everything went smoothly and by 1:30 I was on my way to Mya's gymnastics holiday party in Edmonton! Quick trip, but so so worth it and I'm so thankful I got to go! Chris was worried I would come home sad, but I told him not to worry...I'd be going back in less than 2 weeks:) He didn't think it was very funny!

This weekend we had a lot going on! Max had soccer, Chris had to do his annual shopping trip the week before Christmas, we had a holiday party at some friends from the kids' school and we had a little neighborhood playdate with some neighbors we hadn't met yet! It was a nice way to end the weekend...wine and a playdate. Can't get much better than that!:)

imagine that...Ivy is eating the candy off of the gingerbread house!

November one-photo-a-day

Whoa! We are finished with November already! Here's what we were up to last month....


Day 305: November 1st and Chris and the kids were playing baseball outside! I'll take it:)
Day 306: I love daylight savings time. This was taken at 7:15. Ivy was sleeping and these two were enjoying a few minutes of iPad time in Max's bed.
Day 307: Ivy had her first day of gymnastics on this day! She loved it and loved wearing her "gymnastics" which is what she calls the leotard:)
Day 308: Big day for the Hodens! We are so proud of Grandpa David for all of his hard work this year on the election!


Day 309: Max almost missed the car on this day after school because he was reading his book. I love when he gets into books and doesn't want to put them down. He is a tough kid to get to start a book, but once he does, he loves to read. I'm a lot like that too.
Day 310: This day was my first ever (I think) 2 photos per day:) Ivy started preschool so as of 12:45pm this was the most important part of my day. BUT...around 8pm things took a turn and I got to facetime with Chris Harrison so Ivy was bumped and my facetime screen shot quickly took her spot!
Day 311: We went to Calgary for the weekend and Mya asked if she could help me pack. I would never turn down help with packing...I hate packing!
Day 312: Our fam at horsethief canyon.


Day 313: Chris and the girls in our hotel pool. I've said it before...our kids love a good hotel pool!
Day 314: We were home from Calgary for 5 minutes and the kids were already dressed and out the door to play in the snow.
Day 315: Ivy Anne turned 3 today!
Day 316: Nice, much needed haircut for Maxwell.


Day 317: Slow day for pictures this day. Chris and I had a date night and I wanted to take a pic of the two of us, but I forgot so I took one of him getting cash out to pay the sitter. My sister claims this is the worst instagram picture she has ever seen. She's probably right.
Day 318: Chris took Max to the hockey game, we put Ivy to bed and Mya and I did our nails!
Day 319: We went downtown Edmonton for the lighting of the big tree and fireworks. It was really chilly, but a super fun night to be out with 10,000 crazy Canadians who braved the cold!
Day 320: The dad of one of Max's friends from school invited our family to go sledding at a nearby hill. It was fun, but really really cold! (there's a theme here...)


Day 321: People have been telling me about how in the winter when you go to public places a lot of times you will have to take your shoes off at the door. Seemed strange at first, but the more I've been around it the more it's becoming normal! Here's a pic of the entrance to the orthodontist office. It sure makes the floors stay cleaner a lot longer!
Day 322: Ivy celebrated her birthday at school on this day! She had the never ending birthday and this picture is totally perfect for the kind of kid she is these days...totally sweet and sassy. She says the funniest things like "Don't worry mom" and "Great job mom, you figured it out!" The other day we were walking in the snow and I was holding her. She looked back over my shoulder and said "Mom, look at your paws!" (she meant footsteps;)
Day 323: I don't understand Minecraft and I don't really want to understand it. Doesn't seem to be a point to it, but M and M love it. Mya created this in one of her worlds and showed me and I actually thought it was pretty cool!
Day 324: Ivy and Mya play together so much. If Ivy isn't super tired it usually goes really well too. On this day they were playing house and were sleeping on their beds made of blocks. I hated to tell them it was time for bed because they were playing so nicely.


Day 325: Ivy put these gingerbread window stickers up and I said on instagram that I bet they would last an hour and I'm pretty sure it didn't even last that long.
Day 326: To keep with tradition, we got our tree this year from Home Depot. It was quite the authentic experience for the kids:)
Day 327: We put a tree upstairs for the kids and let them decorate however they wanted. I walked upstairs to find Max up on the window sill trying to put ornaments on the back side of the tree!
Day 328: We had this day off of school and it was above freezing so I took the kids and neighbor kids sledding. It was so fun. Ivy went down more than the other two and required no assistance getting her sled up the hill!


Day 329: Mya and I watching the finale of our favorite show Dancing with the Stars.
Day 330: My happy place lately...sitting on the couch catching up on some tv while looking at the Christmas tree! This night Chris was also doing some work.
Day 331: Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like picking up your kids from school in a blizzard!
Day 332: Good thing my kids love to play in the snow. It appears we will have a lot of it. Max is in the first of what will most likely be many, many igloos. We got close to 18" last Thursday/Friday!


Day 333: Big day for the kids. After watching Max and Mya's performance at the festival of trees by their school choir(and Max had a solo and rocked it!) they got to visit Santa. (hope to have a separate post on that next week!)
Day 334: Mya had the neighbor girls over for a playdate and some nachos while Max was at a friends house for the afternoon.

Ivy's birthday party

I decided Ivy's birthday party deserved a post since it was her first party! In true Chris and Beth Hoden fashion, we threw it together in about 4 hours:) I sent a text out to our 2 neighbors on our way home from Calgary the day before her birthday and invited their kids over. I got a text back from one of them saying "do you want ALL of the kids?" Yep, I wanted all of the kids. I didn't care that there was a 9 year old boy in the mix:)

So we decided on a few fun things that a variety of ages/genders would like to do...pin the tail on the donkey, play-doh, hide-and-seek, and of course everyone loves balloons. I bought one of those helium balloon kits from Michaels, a few birthday decorations, some party favors and some pizzas! Chris made some very yummy cupcakes too!




Our sweet neighbor invited all of our kids to go to her house and play a couple hours before the party so we could have a chance to get everything ready. It worked out great and I think the party was a big hit! Ivy loved everyone singing to her, blowing out candles, opening presents and pretty much everything that had to do with the day!

They had to make something out of play-doh that you could find at a birthday party and they were pretty creative!

Fall break trip part 2

After we left Drumheller, we drove about an hour and a half to Calgary. We hauled our suitcases inside, ordered some pizza and were in the pool in about 30 minutes flat! The hotel had two water slides which the kids loved. Forget spending tons of money on a vacation...just go to a hotel with a pool and they're good!




Saturday we were going to go to the zoo and some other things around Calgary, but we woke up to a ton of snow and it wasn't looking like it would stop anytime soon. So we decided to come back to the zoo another time and we just went out for a big Perkins breakfast (side note..did you know Perkins offers to go cups? I jokingly told the waitress that only thing that could make that breakfast better was if we could take the coffee to go and she said we could!) We hit the pool again and then went to a movie in the afternoon. We saw Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It was Ivy's first movie in the theater and I gave her a C.

We didn't leave Calgary without trying out some of the famous burgers and shakes at Peter's Drive Inn. I stayed at the hotel with Ivy, but Chris said it was a classic drive-in and it tasted that way! We will definitely stop again if we're in the area. We hit up the pool one more time that night before heading home the next morning. All in all, a good little getaway!



We even got to bring Chloe and as you can see from the picture below...she did just fine:)